Rhythm games are a plenty this days. Being a fan of them since late PlayStation One / PlayStation 2 days. I’m usually down for trying out new and inventive ideas for the genre. I’ve had my time with Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and others. I’m also a huge fan of role playing games… so what if they mixed the two? Well The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor aims to do just that and with surprising results.
Story mode starts off and introduces us to the characters and the plot, this is probably the weakest element of the RPG aspect though, which is usually the other way around for RPG games being this is a music rhythm game, one I can overlook. After the initial setup, players will go across the map, playing various challenges to defeat monster and progress to the next area. Each character is represented at the bottom of the screen with their own notes timeline. In beat with the music directions or buttons must be pressed to correspond with the music and timing and to cast attacks. Meanwhile on the other side of the screen, monster attack and keep doing so until the song is over.
The challenge part comes with leveling up the characters, assigned their attacks, spells, or skills, and placing them in the right order to attack more efficiently. For example, there are three lines of abilities to equip. The first can be performed by doing the first strong of music notes, second, and third. That means the line of hitting the right notes grows longer if players want to do the second and third tier. It’s a bit confusing at first but otherwise the flow starts to become natural and moving from each characters lines to stringing the notes because second nature.
Visually, it’s nice to see the monster attacking and the character doing battle. Yet this is also where part of the problems can occur. One, it’s hard to pay attention to what is going on screen at the bottom. It’s great for people who watch others play but the player themselves, it does nothing. If anything it can sometimes hinder the performance as things are happening that can distract the player. Maybe this is intentional on the developers to add to the challenge but it just felt more as a burden.
The soundtrack itself has a lot of various songs from slower paced songs to fast beats of electronic or techno. It was easy to get into the music and just enjoy the beats. My 3 year old daughter watched me play and even had a blast just jumping around to the music. Some nice solid selections. Also for those that like to stream or do YouTube content, they have labeled the song that would get flagged on YouTube, so that’s a nice feature and great to see developers put that into consideration.
All that said, The Metronomicon is a solid musical experience with a cool twist. It offers a story mode, challenge modes, and endless mode and is just a fun light-hearted rhythm game that can be fun for people of all ages. Highly recommended, and if the music genre is to a player’s preference, then quest onward and tap to the beat!
A pre-release PlayStation 4 code was provided by the publisher for review purposes
